When Qian Fei arrived at Wangfujing Department Store, Hu Zining was waiting for her at the entrance with two cups of Coke in hand.
Just as she was about to apologize again for being late, he handed her the Coke and said, “You ran here, didn’t you? Look how out of breath you are—take a sip to calm down!”
As she took the drink, she felt so moved she could almost cry. She considered herself incredibly lucky. At nearly twenty-seven, on the verge of becoming a leftover woman with slim marriage prospects, fate had actually blessed her with such a thoughtful and considerate man!
While Hu Zining went to exchange the tickets, she couldn’t resist calling Yao Jingjing to quickly share her joy.
“Yao Jingjing, how is it possible I’ve met such a gentle, caring man? He even said I’m pretty!”
But Yao Jingjing reflexively poured cold water on her excitement. “Listen, Qian Feifei, men like that usually have plenty of experience with women—they’re experts at sweet-talking! Though I suppose it counts as a good deed that he could lie through his teeth and call your face—which only gets dabbed with Dabao cream—pretty.” She paused, then changed the subject. “Anyway, I won’t get to see what he’s really like. I could be leaving anytime in the next couple of days, and there won’t be time for any farewell gatherings. Just be careful, okay? Take things slow with him—no rushing into the wedding night or anything. When I get a chance to come back, I’ll vet him properly for you!”
Qian Fei scoffed. “Get lost! The main reason I’m looking for a boyfriend is to balance my increasingly messed-up hormones ASAP with a wedding night. Who has time to wait for you?”
She hung up just as Hu Zining returned with the tickets—for a showing starting in five minutes.
The movie, Double Xposure , starred Fan Bingbing. The plot was somewhat disjointed, and Qian Fei quickly lost track of the story, even dozing off briefly in the middle. When it finally ended, she heard Hu Zining ask eagerly, “So, what did you think?”
She forced herself to reply, “So exciting! How did the screenwriter come up with such a creative time-travel and rebirth concept? So talented!”
Hu Zining’s smile looked a little strained. “It wasn’t about time-travel or rebirth.”
Unable to hide her confusion, Qian Fei asked, “But didn’t Fan Bingbing live twice? With different things happening each time?”
Patiently, he explained, “She didn’t live twice—the earlier events were all just her hallucinations.”
“Oh,” Qian Fei said. “So Fan Bingbing was schizophrenic!”
Hu Zining chuckled. “Qian Fei, you really are an interesting girl!”
The unexpected praise made her heart flutter.
Hu Zining then asked if she was hungry. “Actually, I am!” she said. “Let’s grab something to eat.”
They picked a random restaurant and ordered some dishes.
When the bill came, Qian Fei insisted on paying. “A woman shouldn’t pay for a man!” Hu Zining protested, reaching for his wallet.
But she blocked the server from taking his money. “You can’t pay for everything! You already treated me to the movie.” She handed over the cash instead.
As Hu Zining put his money away, he sighed, “Qian Fei, you really are a different kind of girl.”
The words filled her with such delight that she blushed happily.Hu Zining offered to take Qian Fei home. She checked her watch—it was only a quarter past nine—and said, "No need, it's still early. I'll just take the subway. We're going in opposite directions, so it wouldn't be convenient for you to drop me off!"
Hu Zining then walked her to the subway station.
On the train, Qian Fei received a WeChat message from Hu Zining.
"Qian Fei, I had a great time today. Thanks for dinner! I really like you. If you think I'm alright too, how about we make it official? What do you say?"
Qian Fei stared at her phone for a full minute, her heart pounding wildly.
For years, she had been hung up on Wang Ruohai, almost forgetting what it felt like to be pursued by someone else. The sensation was so exhilarating, so overwhelming—it was as if she had been transported back to her eighteen-year-old self.
Taking a deep breath, she replied, "Sounds good to me!"
※※※※※※
Qian Fei arrived home in high spirits.
The moon she saw on her way back was so damn round, so perfect that everything seemed delightful in its glow.
But the moment she opened her front door, her good mood evaporated instantly.
The apartment was a disaster—water everywhere, as if a flood had swept through.
Peering into the kitchen, she saw the faucet still gushing water. She hurried over, splashing through the puddles, turned off the tap, and pulled the plug from the sink.
She went back to knock on Gui Lili and Li Yifei's bedroom door. After several attempts with no response, she assumed no one was home. She took off her coat, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to clean up the mess. Just then, Gui Lili opened the door, rubbing her eyes.
She had been sleeping inside, completely undisturbed by the sound of rushing water.
Qian Fei was speechless.
"Wow!" Gui Lili exclaimed at the sight of the flooded apartment. "How did this happen?"
Qian Fei looked at her wearily. "You left the sink plugged and forgot to turn off the faucet."
At that moment, the front door opened—Li Yifei had returned.
"What's going on?" He frowned at the waterlogged floor and asked Gui Lili, "Did you do this again?"
Qian Fei looked up at the ceiling.
So this wasn’t the first time.
Gui Lili gave Qian Fei an innocent look. "I'm so sorry, Qian Fei! I was filling the sink to soak a rag, but I must’ve dozed off. But usually, the overflow hole in sinks leads to the drain—why doesn’t yours? If it did, this wouldn’t have happened..."
Her voice was so meek that for a moment, Qian Fei actually felt guilty—as if she were the one at fault for having such a poorly designed sink.
"Enough!" Li Yifei snapped. "Can’t you just admit you messed up for once? You’re always making excuses!"
Gui Lili’s tone instantly sharpened, shedding her earlier meekness. "Li Yifei, don’t you dare blame me! If you hadn’t left me alone at home on a weekend, this wouldn’t have happened! You won’t even tell me where you went or who you were with—what are you hiding?"
"Not worth arguing with you," Li Yifei muttered, ignoring her. He tossed his suit jacket onto the living room sofa and tugged irritably at his collar.
Gui Lili slammed the door shut with a loud "bang," locking herself inside the room.Qian Fei faintly heard Gui Lili crying. The wails were so heart-wrenching, as if pouring out all the grievances in the world, making her extremely uncomfortable. Goosebumps rose on her arms as she whispered to Li Yifei, "Why don't you go in and comfort her? Honestly speaking, it is pretty pitiful—on a weekend, you went off to enjoy a lavish meal at Chengfu Banquet while leaving her at home to wash rags. When you think about it, it really is quite tragic!"
Li Yifei glanced at her, his voice tinged with confusion, "Are all you girls this fickle? When you first start dating, you're all sweet and docile, but once you're together, it's all tears and wails?"
Qian Fei resisted the urge to roll her eyes and shrugged. "Who doesn't have an early menopause now and then? Besides, if you hadn't provoked her, she probably wouldn't be crying and wailing like this..."
His sweeping generalization was broad enough to cover half the sky.
"You should still go in and comfort her. The sound of her crying is making me uneasy!"
Li Yifei hesitated for a moment before stepping toward the room. Just before reaching the door, he suddenly turned back and said, "Don’t tell her about me eating at Chengfu Banquet tonight!"
Qian Fei paused, then nodded. "Fine! I'm all for peace. I’m just here to collect rent, not play the role of the neighborhood committee auntie!"
Li Yifei gave her another look before turning and entering the room.
After a while, Gui Lili stopped crying. A little later, she came out to help Qian Fei clean up the apartment.
By the time everything was tidied up, it was already past eleven. After a whole evening of bending and scrubbing, Qian Fei’s back ached. She washed up quickly and climbed into bed.
Her phone’s notification light kept blinking. She saw that Hu Zining had sent her a WeChat message an hour earlier, asking what she was up to.
Checking the time, she figured he was probably asleep by now and decided not to reply.
A short while later, another message came in.
She thought it was from Hu Zining, but it turned out to be from Li Yifei.
"Sorry about today. The floorboards got warped from the water. Calculate how much it’ll cost to replace them, and I’ll transfer the money along with next month’s rent."
Qian Fei had always been weak against people who owned up to their mistakes sincerely—especially someone like Li Yifei, who seemed like the type who’d never admit fault.
"It’s fine. The place will need renovating anyway when I stop renting it out. Let’s just forget about it this time."
But the moment she sent the message, she regretted it. Why did she have to be so self-sabotaging? What was the point of turning down money?
At work on Monday, during lunch break while everyone was chatting, she brought up the water damage at home.
After hearing about the text she’d sent, her colleagues all told her not to give up on treatment and to keep taking her "brain-dead pills" as prescribed.
Xiao Yuan even slammed the table and exclaimed, "Qian Fei, can you stop being such a doormat? Look how spoiled you made your ex-boyfriend! And now you’re spoiling your tenants too!"
Only Hu Zining, upon hearing about it, praised her enthusiastically: "Qian Fei, you’re such a kind-hearted girl!"
Qian Fei thought that no matter what others said, having at least one person who could say something like that to her was enough.
※※※※※※
Life as roommates gradually unfolded, bringing with it all sorts of frustrations.
Qian Fei felt like she was practicing new tolerance skills every day.
The couple next door were particularly wild—often coming home late, making a lot of noise when they did, talking loudly while washing up, and occasionally arguing. Not once did they fail to wake her up.Qian Fei was good at everything except speaking up when she had complaints. As long as a situation was still tolerable, she would choose to remain silent.
So amid the constant banging noises from next door, she quietly bought twenty pairs of earplugs on Taobao and started wearing them to bed every night. From then on, unless the neighbors were having an exceptionally loud argument, she could basically sleep undisturbed.
However, lately she noticed the couple next door were quarreling more and more frequently. She felt she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from their constant fighting.
Besides the late-night disturbances, there were plenty of other frustrations too.
Author's Note: The plot is about to unfold soon, hehe. They've started arguing already~
Just to clarify, that spendthrift Li guy isn't positioned as a good man at all~ On the contrary, he has many flaws—lazy, inconsiderate, spoiled, pretentious—he's got a bit of everything. (Of course, he has merits too, quite shining ones that will be revealed later.) But later, after getting together with Qian, our little Li will change a lot for her. I love this kind of setup—changing yourself for someone you like, wahahahaha
Is it because the plot hasn't developed yet that no one's leaving comments? Aaaaaah!!! Just hold on a little longer—the later parts are full of ambiguous tension
No comments? I'll release ugly professor photos to spray at you!!! Hmph~
Thanks to the three little sisters for the landmines, mwah! But no need to send more, save them for VIP chapters instead~
Universal Little White Jiang Jingjiu threw a landmine at: 2014-02-12 20:02:27
Gu Xiaozhi threw a landmine at: 2014-02-12 22:17:51
Shu Mimi threw a landmine at: 2014-02-13 16:52:42
Shu Mimi threw a landmine at: 2014-02-13 16:56:58
Finally, typing while crying: Happy Lantern Festival, Happy Valentine's Day (crying intensifies here!!!)
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